Saxo appoints Matteo Cassina as global head of institutional business

Fund data for this article

Saxo Bank has appointed Matteo Cassina in a newly created position of global head of institutional business.

He will be based at Saxo Bank’s London office in Canary Wharf, and report to the co-CEOs and co-founders of the bank, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen.

Cassina’s appointment is a step in Saxo Bank’s strategy to continue its growth within the institutional space. Saxo is now placing its core institutional activities in London.

Cassina has extensive senior experience in investment banking as well as specific expertise in electronic trading, having served as the head of prime access SM for Goldman Sachs and head of total trader for Merrill Lynch. Matteo later served as president of Citadel Execution Services.

Fournais and Christensen say: “The appointment of a global head of institutional business is a major strategic step for Saxo Bank. Matteo brings considerable experience and senior market presence, which will prove invaluable as we continue to grow our business rapidly in both the institutional and private retail space. We are proud to have Matteo Cassina on board to drive the institutional growth out of London.

“Having refined our award winning multi-asset trading platform for many years we are approaching the tipping point where traditional players with old mainframe infrastructures are becoming less competitive. Saxo’s cloud based solution is disrupting the old ways of doing business in the same way that we have seen technology radically change other industries.”

Cassina says: “I worked for traditional investment banks for almost two decades and feel extremely excited about the opportunity to leverage the latest technology to empower our clients to engage with the markets in an innovative new environment. My last 20 years have been about banking; the next will be about applying radical new technology within the investment banking sector.”